What that F?
The season ender of the Sopranos and nothing happens. I guess the writers and the director thought they'd play a little joke on their audience by giving us a bunch of lead-ins, and then following them up with nothing.
Christ the least they could have done is whacked Christopher, he needs to be whacked.
This kind of anticlimax may be funny for the writers, but I'm not impressed and am currently looking forward to next season with zero anticipation.
Thankfully the new season of Denis Leary's Rescue Me is on FX.
In my opinion that's a far superior show. Perhaps the best written show on TV.

i thought the show was very well done, great cinematic qualities and chock-full of clues for us trainspotters. a fitting end? perhaps not, but remember, this was not the end. this season was just a prelude, and every detail has relevance. the last 8 episodes will put a bow on everything.
good to see Uncle Junior again. very funny scene, and now we know what "baccala" means.
as for AJ, perhaps he wont follow his father after all, with the " i have a job" retort to Tony....
my theory all along has been that Tony will live happily ever after despite himself, and that would be the irony of the whole series. but tonight that little dark character from Phil Leotardo's crew gave me (and Tony) pause in the scene in the hospital. i had an image of this guy "taking out a boss"...Phil said he would not, but is now incapacitated. hmm....
anyone see the one-legged russian working for Leotardo? the one who worked for Livia Soprano, the sister of Tony's goomah? hmmm....
and the last scene: look again at all of the characters seated there in the living room...the Family Proper, right? think of all the of the imperfections and realism represented there, their individual stories, how they are together in such "a beautiful home" as the outsider observes, despite themselves. whats going on there? any theories?
what is Chase commenting on, or setting us up to believe so he can whack all our assumptions believing both Families will live happily ever after? or is that the point? that Tony can have it all?
but for the time being, i offer that Al Swearengen and Deadwood are equally captivating and very smart, very high quality drama until Sopranos return.

i THOUGHT IT SET UP A VICIOUS ENDING TO ALL THIS.
I think the guy who said, "We gotta stop meeting like this." is the guy who is going to whack Tony in the end.
I also think a close family member may get whacked.
There's gonna be a war in the final 8 episodes.
Over all, I thought the season started out awful. But the last few episodes made it all worth it.

The whole concept of "cliffhanger" requires more than our knowledge that somewhere there is a cliff, and that someone may be approaching its brink. Which is where we currently stand.
And what was with that Christopher and Julianna scene with the Alfred Hitchkockian music and the lap fades? I got the impression someone was showing off for his film school professor.

After what I thought was a great season, last night's show was rather tame. It was jolly good to see Tony laughing at Phil's heart attack, though. And the beret was priceless. Also, for a change, Melfi was spot on and Tony's stating that he merely came to the shrink's office to "hang out" was great. I agree with rauldke that this was not in any way a season finale, more of a middle of the run episode. Just go back and watch the previous episode again and revel in Tony smashing AJ's windshield with the football helmet. Now that's more like it!

I thought the episodes with Vito were outstanding. Other than that . . .
Raulduke, baccala is the saltiest goddamn thing you've ever eaten. It used to be part of the traditional Christmas Eve spread in my family. God it was awful, but it always makes me think of Christmas and good times.

sounds like the Italian equivalent to Lutefisk?
speaking of fish...a red herring, perhaps, the Vito situation.
i thought the Vito thing was great fodder for the whole "new era of mobster" redux theme underlying much of the series. as i posted earlier, i got tired of Vito, and just wanted him gone (some gay friends said Johnnycakes would never go for Vito). all of that speculation he might survive, when will he get whacked if he does...what distractions! it was all about Tony challenging the status quo, the survival of the business/family depending on his ability to bend.
but Tony never gave the word, and that is the crux of the matter, it seems. will it define him, or get him killed?

back in the days of my grandfather, my people ate small fish that ran in schools of thousands out of the Detroit river that they called Sardines, but i dont know what they really were. all i remember was the basement laundry tub full of the damn things.

Although last night's episode was clearly NOT a "season ending" episode, (no cliff hanger, Chris did not get killed, it did not leave me waiting with baited breath for the start of the next season, etc.), compared with much of the rest of the season, it was one of the better ones. It was good enough to show that next year's eight episodes might be good, or even great. At least we did not leave on a really "bad note," like Junior Soprano singing! I did not hate it.

I was expecting a cliffhanger but am not disappointed. I thought it was one of the best shows of the season. I particularly liked AJ being a good guy for once with his girlfriend's son.
I'm still thinking something bad is going to happen to him because of Carmela and Rosalie having those discussions in France about losing a son, and Christopher and Julianna are a time bomb. Someone in Tony's family is going to be taken out, and because Phil is still so upset about his brother being whacked by Tony's cousin, I suspect it will be a close relative rather than someone in his work family.
I agree the wait between seasons blew the audience for the show and the ratings. What a shame.

I have been really disappointed this season. Everything move so fast, I couldnt really get into it at all. I know I will watch the last 8 shows, but I just hope it will be better than this season. It just seem so uneven, the first part of the season was fantastic, then it just started jumping all over the place. I am not even gonna make any predictions, cus everything I though would happen didnt.